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Mr. Willis of Ohio
WHITE HOUSE STAFFERS COURT VOTES BEFORE COUNTING CENSUS IN -- Toby (Richard Schiff) and Mandy (Moira Kelly) work to convince some congressmen -- including the nervous Mr. Willis (guest star Al Fann), who assumed his late wife's office -- to approve a commerce bill that includes a vital census-counting provision, while the President's daughter (Elizabeth Moss) gets into an ugly fracas in a Georgetown bar along with Josh (Bradley Whitford) and Sam (Rob Lowe). Elsewhere, C.J. (Allison Janney) swallows her pride and asks Sam for help to understand the basic components of the administration's stance on random census-taking in 2000, and a peeved President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) scolds Leo (John Spencer) when he learns that Leo's wife has left him. Summary Cast :Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn :Moira Kelly as Mandy Hampton :Dulé Hill as Charlie Young :Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg :Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler :John Spencer as Leo McGarry :Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman :and Martin Sheen as President Bartlet Recurring cast :Janel Moloney as Donna Moss :Elisabeth Moss as Zoey Bartlet :Suzy Nakamura as Cathy :Allison Smith as Mallory O'Brien :Renée Estevez as Nancy Guest Starring :Al Fann as Rep. Joe Willis, D-OH :Charley Lang as Congressman Matt Skinner :Michael O'Neill as Secret Service Agent Ron Butterfield :Kenneth Tigar as Congressman Gladman Co-Starring :Kathryn Joosten as Dolores Landingham :Devika Parikh as Bonnie :Gathering Marbet as Waitress :Blake Shields as Frat Boy #1 :Justin Urich as Frat Boy #2 :Bradley James as Donnie :Greg Wrangler as Secret Service Agent #2 :Juan A. Riojas as Secret Service Agent #3Blake Shields and Eric Balfour, playing the minor roles of Frat Boys, went on to have starring roles in television programmes. *Eric Balfour was uncredited despite his prominent role as the third abrasive Frat Boy. *Bradley James was again credited as an unnamed Secret Service Agent. His character being identified as Donnie in later episodes. Quotes :Toby Ziegler: Kathy, I need a copy of article one, section two. :Kathy: Article one section two of what? :Toby: The Constitution. :Kathy: Is that something I'm supposed to have at my desk? :Toby: Does anybody have a copy of the constitution? (blank looks from the communications staff) This is discouraging! :Kathy: Bonnie, would you get Toby a copy of the consitution? :Bonnie: Is it still in print? :Toby: Oh for crying out loud! Try Amazon.com. And if they don't have it then just bust into the glass display case at the national archives! :C.J. Cregg: You shouldn't yell. :Toby: "Is it still in print," is what my staff would like to know. :Sam Seaborn: You don't understand the census. :C.J.: I don't understand certain nuances. :Sam: Like what? :C.J.: Like the census. :Sam: C.J., we've been working on this commerce bill for 3 weeks. I've heard you talk about the census all the time! :C.J.: Yeah, yeah... :Sam: I don't understand, how can you- :C.J.: I've been faking it :Sam: You've been faking it... :C.J.: I've been playing it fast and loose there's no doubt about it. But sitting in on some of the meetings we've been having and reading the briefing book last night, I have to say that the census is starting to sound to me like it's...well, important. :Sam: Uh-huh. :C.J.: And, I've come to the realization that if I'm gonna be talking about it all week it's probably best that I understand what I'm saying. :Sam: When? :C.J.: When what? :Sam: When did you come to this realization? :C.J.: About an hour ago. :Sam: OK. Lets...I'll tell you what. Let's forget about the fact that you're comin' a little late to the party and embrace the idea you showed up at all. :Toby: Mr. Willis? :Joe Willis: You can call me Joe. :Toby: If you don't mind me asking sir, what changed your mind? :Joe Willis: What do you mean? :Toby: Well I know it wasn't expediency, so I was wondering what changed your mind. :Joe Willis: You did. I thought you made a very strong argument. :Toby: Well thank you. Um...(chuckles) I'm smiling because around here the merits of a particular argument generally take a back seat to political tactics. :Joe Willis: I would imagine. It worked on me. :Toby: I was taking advantage of you sir. :Joe Willis: I know. :Toby: There's some things I did not mention. First of all it is partisan. Second of all, I'm not wild about the precedent. :Joe Willis: You mean— :Toby: What's to stop us from saying: "We don't need elections, we'll just use polling data. 1150 people with a sampling error of plus or minus 3 will decide who runs the country." :Joe Willis: I thought about that. :Toby: And? :Joe Willis: It's OK by me. As long as it's NOT the same people who decide what's on television. (Laughs uproariously) Trivia *The President yells at his daughter Zoey about her being careless and what the dangers to her could be. His off the cuff description of her abduction (at a club in the bathroom, Secret Service agents being shot in the head) is very close to the events that would take place at the end of season four when Zoey is abducted.IMDB trivia **This speech, wherein President Bartlet references his and the Secret Service's worry over his getting shot, could also be a foreshadowing of the end of season 1, where a shootout occurs during which he is shot. CONTINUITY *In a Congressional roll call, the names are given in alphabetical order and those after Willis are mentioned. The name "Wyatt" isn't called, however, even though Andy is a member of Congress. REFERENCES *President Bartlett's reference to a "malted" milkshake is compared to the Thornton Wilder play Our Town, set in 1900-13. Bartlett mentions that he once played the Stage Manager (the lead role) in a production. DRAMATIC LICENSE *The Secret Service would never let the President's daughter out of their sight. *In the House of Representatives, a "teller vote" where all names are called would last for hours and therefore almost never takes place after the vote for Speaker on the first day of a new Congress. A modern Roll Call involves all 435 members voting electronically and simultaneously in a 15-min window or 5-min series. This is done so that Toby can spend the closing moments of the episode in front of the TV in order to hear Mr. Willis' vote read out loud. ERRORS *Nobody is ever "appointed" to fill a seat in the House of Representatives, as is depicted in this episode. A special election is us called for normally when a vacancy opens up. *The Strawberry does not actually have its seeds on the outside. It in fact has many tiny fruits that each contain their own seeds.Quora *There are more than 3 words that begin with the letters "DW," including the words Dwine and Dweeb.dictionary words dw *Charlie tells one of the men in the bar that, to buy 19-year-old Zoey a drink, "you'd have to take her to Maryland". The legal drinking age in Maryland has been 21 since 1982. Photos 106.png 106mandy.png 106mal.png 106bar.png Crew Opening credits #Aaron Sorkin - Creator #W.G. Snuffy Walden - Music #Michael Hissrich - Co-producer #Kristin Harms - Producer #Jeff Reno - Consulting Producer #Ron Osborn - Consulting Producer #Llewellyn Wells - Episodic Producer #Aaron Sorkin - Writer #Christopher Misiano - Director Closing credits #Aaron Sorkin - Executive Producer #Thomas Schlamme - Executive Producer #John Wells - Executive Producer #Rick Cleveland - Co-producer #Peter Parnell - Executive Story Editor #Paul Redford - Story Editor #Patrick Caddell - Consultant #Dee Dee Myers - Consultant #Robert W. Glass, III - Associate Producer #Julie Herlocker - Associate Producer #Thomas Del Ruth - Director of Photography #Kenneth Hardy - Production Designer #Bill Johnson - Editor #Robert P. Cohen - Unit Production Manager #Chris Stoia - First Assistant Director #Stacy Fish - Second Assistant Director #Barbara Miller - Executive in Charge of Casting #John Levey - Casting #Kevin Scott - Casting Notes and references Category:Episodes Category:Season 1